EAW Empire
EAW Empire was a professional wrestling television program for Elite Answers Wrestling that aired live on Thursday nights on Fox in the United States. The show exclusively featured matches between the company's female Elitists. During its tenure, the show served as a companion to EAW's three other brands, Voltage, Showdown,and Dynasty. At the start, the women were technically inter-branded competitors who could appear across all forms of EAW programming, however, the brand was created with the intention of giving them their own niche to shine. As the brand continued to grow, the majority of the women in EAW became Empire exclusive elitists. History EAW's Women's division entered a period of never before seen prosperity beginning in 2015 and extending into 2016, with the creations of the Empress of Elite and Empire Cup accolades, the introduction of the Specialists Championship, and the premiere True Vixens. As such, they continued to be provided with more platforms to elevate their public profile. During an in-ring segment at Territorial Invasion 2016 prior to the second Empress of Elite finals, Hall of Famer Cleopatra returned to announce the conception of Empire. She also announced that she would serve as the brand's general manager. In early February 2017, it was announced that the brand would be getting its first supershow since the establishment of Empire, Malicious Intentions, which aired the following month. Another supershow, Terminus, aired on June 1, 2017. Manifest Destiny, a supershow which doubled as the brand's one-year anniversary show, took place on September 21, 2017. After running several successful supershows, Empire's first exclusive FPV, Bloodletter, was scheduled for December 9, 2017 and ultimately took place the following day on December 10. In 2018, the former Empire Cup was renamed the Iconic Cup. It was contested the first time at an eponymous supershow, the brand's fifth, on March 1, 2018. Closing During a social media rant by EAW's chairman Mr. DEDEDE about women's wrestling, he began to air out his grievances with Fox's chairman and CEO, Lachlan Murdoch due to their promotion of the show as well as money issues. DEDEDE would cancel the conference calls he had scheduled with the network. Negotiations between the two turned soured and he began leaking texts conversations between the two showing that the relationship had began to become irreparable. Murdoch went to the media calling DEDEDE a "miserable insufferable c*nt" in a scathing rant. After several back and forth in various forms of media, DEDEDE gave the network 15 minutes to comply before he decided to "do something really irrational". After 15 minutes passed with no word from Murdoch or the network, it was announced on EAW's official twitter that effective Season 13, immediately following Pain for Pride, EAW was opting out of it's contract with Fox and ending the Empire brand. Later that night during the airing of Empire, Empire's General Manager, Kendra Shamez received a phone call where she was given the news for the first time. This news sent shockwaves throughout the wrestling world as people speculated and buzzed for weeks wondering if this was real or a hoax. The following week, DEDEDE's niece, Veena Adams came out and cut a promo doubling down on the announcement. Production The Empire set that has been used since the program's inception is the same HD set that is utilized by the other EAW weekly shows. For the opening of the show, purple and pink pyrotechnics are used. Theme music On-air personalities Authority figures Commentators Ring announcers Backstage correspondents Referees Championships and accomplishments Being that Empire ''is a Women's-centric program, it is considered the "home" show for both Women's exclusive belts contested in EAW: the Women's World Championship and Specialists Championship. In addition, the show features the winners of Empress of Elite and the Iconic Cup (formerly the Empire Cup and the Vixens Cup). The show was previously the home brand of the Vixens Championship, prior to it being retired in December 2016. '''Other accomplishments' Broadcast In addition to broadcasts on Fox in the United States, like the rest of EAW programming, Empire also airs internationally. Canada Empire airs at the same time in Canada that it does in the United States, and is on Sportsnet 360. Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East The series airs in Australia on Fox8. It also airs in Fiji on Sky Pacific and Sky Fiji. Empire airs in India, Pakistan, and Nepal on TEN Sports, and in Kenya on the Kenya Broadcast Corporation. In Malaysia, it is shown on TV3, in Malta on Melita Sports 1, in the Philippines on Fox, in Singapore on SuperSports, South Africa on e.tv, and Samoa on SBC. It airs across the Middle East and North Africa on OSN, and in Israel on Sport 5. Europe In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Empire airs on Sky Sports 3. In France, the series airs on AB1 and in Italy on Sky Sports 2. It is also shown in Germany on ProSieben MAXX. Latin America Empire airs live on Fox Sports Latinoamerica in Mexico and the rest of Central and South America. Online streaming As is the case with other EAW weekly shows, supershows and free-per-views, all episodes of Empire are available on the EAW Network paid streaming service. Roster "center" style="background: #800080; border-right: 1px solid #999999; border-bottom: 1px solid #999999; -moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px; color: #F0F8FF;" | Pic }}| } color}}| } color light}}}}|4= } color}}}};" ! align="center" style="background: #800080; width: 10%; border-right: 1px solid #999999; border-bottom: 1px solid #999999; -moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px; color: #F0F8FF;" | Wrestler ! align="center" style="background: #800080; width: 18%; border-right: 1px solid #999999; border-bottom: 1px solid #999999; -moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px; color: #F0F8FF;" | Hometown ! align="center" style="background: #800080; width: 18%; border-right: 1px solid #999999; border-bottom: 1px solid #999999; -moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px; color: #F0F8FF;" | Note |- align="center" | | Amber Keys | Bronx, New York | |- align="center" |- align="center" | | Andrea Valentine | Orlando, Florida | |- align="center" | | Celes Dumont | Boston, MA | |- align="center" | | Cleopatra | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |- align="center" | | Constance Blevins | Baltimore, Maryland | |- align="center" | | Felix Hartley | Las Vegas, Nevada | |- align="center" | | Harlow Reichert | Christchurch, New Zealand | |- align="center" | | Io Ishimori | Osaka, Japan | |- align="center" | | Karina-Ann | Montreal Quebec, Canada | Member of Fatal Destiny |- align="center" | | Kassidy Heart | Sydney, Australia | Member of the Jaded Hearts EAW Unified Tag Team Champion |- align="center" | | Layla Lockhart | Salem, Oregon | |- align="center" | | Minerva | Coyote Flats, Texas | |- align="center" | | Raven Roberts | Louisville, Kentucky | |- align="center" | | Remi Skyfire | Somerset, Kentucky | |- align="center" | | Santana Matthews | Somerset, Kentucky | |- align="center" | | Serena Bennett | Compton, California | EAW Specialists Champion |- align="center" | | Sian Ryder | Liverpool, England | |- align="center" | | Sienna Jade | Calgary, Alberta, Canada | Member of the Jaded Hearts EAW Unified Women’s World Champion EAW Unified Tag Team Champion |- align="center" | | Tyler Wolfe | Sydney, Australia | Member of the Jaded Wolfe Hearts |} }|} [[Category:EAW |} Category:Elite Answers Wrestling Category:EAW Vixens Category:EAW Empire Category:Shows Category:Brands Category:Shows taking place every Thursday